


borrowed from a friend

by luminoussbeings



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), Wonder Woman (2017), Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 00:55:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11116512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luminoussbeings/pseuds/luminoussbeings
Summary: In which Kara Danvers crashes to Themyscira, not Steve.





	1. Chapter 1

I. DIANA

Soft blades of grass brushed against her calves, but she didn’t feel it.

The salty breeze tickled her nose, but she didn't stop to enjoy it.

The sun glittered spectacularly off the sea, but she didn’t look out.

Instead, she closed her eyes and lifted her head toward the sky, her arms hanging loosely by her side. The view was never what drew Diana to the cliffs; it was the _sound_.

The gentle crashing of the waves against the beach far below, the dull roar of the wind whipping through her hair, the clamor of weapons and shouts from the city, dampened by distance into a soft hum. Up here, it all blended together into one cohesive frequency, a balance she’d never quite found anywhere else.

The cliffs were where she came to think, to breathe, to speak. Her upturned face was unchanged, her lips not budging, but even still, Diana spoke. She spoke to the gods, confessing her fears, recounting her pride, whispering her desires. Her mother said that the gods were dead, but Diana knew that couldn’t be true, because here on the cliffs, in that peaceful blanket of sound, the gods whispered back.

Diana snapped her eyes open, her relaxed stance jolting to a defensive guard in milliseconds. Something was off. A quick scan of the cliff and sea revealed nothing, and she had just enough time to ponder if she’d overreacted before she saw _it_ fall from the sky.

 She crossed to the edge of the cliff in a leap, her eyes tracking the descent of the object. Distance rendered any details unknowable, but she estimated it was smaller than a horse but larger than a shield, making it just about the size of— Diana widened her eyes. _A person_.

In a heartbeat, she was in the air; the next, she was slicing through the water, swimming as fast as her body would allow. A crash filtered through the air as a wave smashed against her face, sending her underwater; the target must’ve made contact with the sea. She quickened her strokes, her veins filling with dread. Not even an Amazon could survive a fall from such a height.

She spotted the body floating face-down a few meters away. Diana pushed forward with mounting anxiety, close enough now to see that it was a woman outfitted in shreds of red and blue clothing. She slung an arm around the woman’s shoulders and rolled into a backstroke, not daring to waste a second to check for a pulse. One excruciatingly long minute later, they made it to the shore.

Diana tossed the woman on the sand, resting for a moment at the water’s edge and recapturing her runaway breath. Cautiously, she picked up the woman’s wrist and felt for a pulse. Relief flooded her body as she felt it beating strong and steady, and she sat back, relaxing slightly.

Almost immediately, she jumped straight back up and drew her sword. In her mind, Antiope was already admonishing her. How many times had her aunt drilled it into her head to never let her guard down? This woman had somehow penetrated Themyscira’s divine protections and survived a 200 meter fall almost completely unscathed; there was no telling what other powers she possessed or what motivations she held. Diana had been foolish to even save her.

The woman’s eyes flashed open, widening with shock as they took in the sword at her throat.

“Who are you?” Diana barked. “What business have you on Themyscira?”

The woman tried and failed to speak, her voice interrupted by violent coughs as her lungs expelled water on to the sand. Despite herself, Diana felt a twinge of sympathy and a pang of shame. She should be helping this newcomer, not pointing a sword at her— but she knew what her mother would say, what Antiope would say, so the sword stayed.

“Themy— _what?”_ The woman finally managed, looking up at Diana with genuine confusion in her cornflower eyes. “Where am I? Where’s J’onn? _Did they follow?”_

“Did _who_ follow?” Diana asked, thrown.

The woman’s eyes caught on something in the distance and a grimace slid over her features. “ _Them_ ,” she said, pointing over Diana’s shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

II. KARA

“You might want to start pointing your sword at _them_ , not me, or we’ll both be dead,” Kara said, mentally running diagnostics on the state of her aching body.

Ever since that damn kryptocannon blasted her out of the sky, her powers had been on the fritz, a fact she’d confirmed by trying unsuccessfully to zap the sword out of the strange woman’s hand. To make matters worse, the cannon also seemed to have sapped her super strength, leaving her with a few bruised ribs from the impact and lungs that felt like they’d inhaled an Olympic-sized swimming pool.  She winced, struggling to her feet as the woman followed Kara’s gesture. Being mortal _sucked_.

“I don’t understand,” the woman said, staring out at the sea. The Gandian forces poured over the horizon, their aqua-stations blotting out the turquoise of the water with their acrid smoke and murky shadows. “Who are they? What do they want with my home?”

“Gandians. And they don’t want _you_ , they want _me_. Dead, specifically,” she said, her tone as blasé as she could muster. The woman’s eyes softened slightly and her jaw twitched imperceptibly, like she was stopping herself from speaking. Kara got the sudden and sure feeling that she could trust her. For whatever reason, she wanted this strange sword lady on her side, watching her back—now she just had to make _her_ feel the same. “Although,” she added thoughtfully, “Now that they’ve seen the place, I imagine they’ll sack and loot your city and take your people as slaves.”

The woman stiffened. “The Amazons will bow to no master,” she said, her grip on her sword tightening.

 _Amazons?_ Kara filed that away for a later time, one when she’d have the luxury of curiosity. Right now, she had other priorities.

She reached out a hand in a placating gesture, meeting the woman’s coal-black eyes. “Then if we’re going to survive this, we need to trust each other. You saved my life; now let me help save yours. I’m—,” she hesitated, “Kara. Kara Danvers,” she finished firmly, resolving to trust that her instincts about this woman were correct.

The woman regarded her for a tense moment, her eyes unreadable. Then she cracked a small smile. “Diana,” she said, sticking out a hand. “I will trust you, Kara Danvers.”

Kara beamed, reaching to grasp Diana’s hand just as the cliff exploded behind them.

“ _Get down!_ ” she screamed, throwing herself to the sand despite the loud protests from her ribs. She pushed aside the pain and took quick stock of the situation, noting three aqua-stations belching thick dark smoke into the air above. Warriors were already starting to pour out of them, and the cannons glowed with the telltale green light that meant they were nearly fully charged.  “We can only beat them if we take out their artillery,” Kara told Diana, who was crouched in the sand next to her. “But there’s too many fighters— we’ll never get through,” she said, unable to keep the hopelessness from creeping into her voice.

To her surprise, Diana smirked. “That won’t be a problem,” she said, jerking her head to the left. Kara followed her gaze, unable to stop the gasp that escaped her lips.

Fury rained down from the hills, a hurricane of blazing arrows and momentum and sunlight glinting off bronze armor. Waves of women surged forward on horseback, on chariots, on foot, brandishing swords and spears and shields. Their voices joined with the clanking of metal and thunder of footsteps, rising into a terrible cry of a long-forgotten language, one whose meaning was evident from a mere glance at their faces: _This is our home. Anyone who dares cross us will pay._

It was enough to send shivers across Kara’s skin.

“They will cover us, but we have to move now if we are to do as you say,” said Diana.

“Then let’s go,” Kara grinned.

\---------------------

Fighting with Diana felt _natural_. She still had no idea who this woman was, or why she lived on an island inhabited only by gorgeous Ancient Greeks, or how Diana’s seemingly normal sword could cleave through the Daxamite tech like it was nothing— but for whatever reason, her mind just accepted it. Maybe it had something to do with the whole trying-not-to-die thing, or maybe it was that crashing onto an island full of super-hot warrior women was something out of her teenage daydreams.

Either way, the fight felt _good_ , even with the bruised ribs.

“Behind you, Kara Danvers!” Diana called, and Kara spun in time to sock a Gandian in the jaw, the momentum carrying him over the rail of the aqua-station. She shook her wrist, wincing slightly. Her strength was beginning to return, but it still hurt like hell.

Diana seemed to be having no similar problems. She was a whirlwind of dark hair and kinetic energy, tossing attackers overboard and smashing them to the ground with a strength Kara had only previously glimpsed in Clark and Mon-El. _She must be an alien,_ Kara thought _._ Maybe the island was where her kind had established a colony, keeping hidden from the rest of Earth for safety. It seemed to have worked, at least until Kara showed up, bringing Lar Gand’s worst to their doorstep. _Oops_.

She kicked another attacker out of the way. This one flew back even farther, meaning that either her strength had fully returned, or that this was one of the humans the Daxamites had recruited for their sick war. She jammed her fist into a burly Gandian to her left. It bounced off harmlessly, and she drew back, swallowing a shriek. Definitely the latter, then.

The big Gandian smiled, his eyes flashing like a predator with one tooth already sunk in its prey. “What’s wrong, little girl of steel?” he crooned, advancing slowly. “Lost that iron skin? Pity. Lord Gand won’t want your corpse all broken and ugly when he hangs it on display, but well, we can’t all get what we— GAH!” The big Gandian crumpled to the floor.

Diana stood over him, wearing a shield and a bemused expression. “Are these… men?” She asked, prodding the unconscious Gandian with a sandaled foot.

“Of a sort.”

“But they’re _disgusting_ ,” Diana said, looking up at her with such a genuine revulsion that Kara had to laugh.

“They can be,” she agreed, her mind drifting to the countless monsters she'd taken down back home. “But there are a few good ones.”

Tears in her eyes as they laughed over her desk at CATCO. The _click_ of a camera capturing Alex’s silly dance when she’d won a round of Uno. Arms holding her tight, one Father’s Day when the pain of losing two was nearly unbearable. Winn, James, J’onn— they were the reason she was still fighting, what she held onto when the world tried to wash her away.

She wondered briefly if they knew whether she was alive.

“I should very much like to meet the good ones,” Diana said, driving her sword through an ion-rifle.

“Then let’s take out the cannons quick, or the only thing we’ll be meeting is a blast to the face.”

Diana took care of the guards with a few well-placed blows of her shield, leaving Kara a clear path to the control panel. She ripped it open and was greeted by a jumbled mess of wires. _Fuck_. “I can’t disarm it,” she called. “I’ll have to blow it up before it can fire.”

“How? You won’t be able to escape in time.”

“Don’t worry about me,” said Kara, although she was very much worried. _Come on, yellow sun_ , she thought. _Don’t let me down_. “Just get out of here. If this works, I can take them all out.” Diana bit her lip, looking like she wanted to argue. “ _Go!_ ” Kara urged, and she finally complied, pressing a quick kiss to Kara’s cheek as she passed.

“For luck,” she said, before somersaulting over the rail and diving back toward the beach.

Kara tore her gaze away from Diana. There’d be time to sort out her confusing mess of emotions later— right now, she had a job to do. She squinted her eyes at the base of the cannon, summoning her power.

Nothing happened.

She tried again, and this time her face did feel pretty warm, but that might’ve just been from the major blush she was nursing.

 _One more time_.

The light burst forth from her irises all at once, hitting the casing and melting through to the core. Kara whooped, rising into the air and pumping her fist. “Supergirl’s back in business, baby!” she crowed, flying to the second aqua-station just as the first exploded, sending waves of green energy through the air.

Agony ripped through her. Her jubilation dissipated as quickly as it came and she let loose a guttural howl as it struck her, consuming every cell in her body with its angry fire. Fighting to keep conscious, she managed to push down the pain, concentrating on the second station. _Mother of Rao._ She’d somehow overlooked the fact that blowing up kryptonite-powered cannons _releases kryptonite into the air._

The second one exploded, chunks of debris nearly knocking her out of the air. Grimacing, she moved on to the last cannon, her heat-vision fizzling and crackling as the kryptonite ate away at its power source. _It had to be enough._ Her eyes sparked out just as the cannon began to smoke, rumbling before the explosion. She’d done it. _It was enough._

Now she just had to make it back to the beach.

_“Come on, Kara,” Alex called from across the sand, her hands resting on her fourteen-year-old hips. “Time to go home.”_

Her flight was erratic, jerking up and down as her strength waxed and waned. Behind her, the third cannon finally exploded. Her face twisted as the last wave of energy tore through her, dousing her veins with acid and pushing darkness into the edges of her vision. _Just a little bit longer._

 _“Just a little bit longer?” Seaweed tickled her ankles. She didn’t want to leave. The oceans had always been too poisoned to enjoy back home, on her_ real _home— not Alex and Eliza’s house._

She passed a body floating on the surface of the water. A young man, about Winn’s age. Maybe he was a Daxamite, maybe he was a human. Did it matter? It drove into her heart. So much death, so much carnage, all because— she couldn’t remember.

_“Alex, look,” she said, holding out the tiny hermit crab. “I saved him from a seagull.”_

_“Put it down,”  Alex said. “You’ll get a disease or something.”_

_“But what if the bird comes back?”_

_“Then it’s just nature. You can’t save everything, Kara.”_

_“Why not?”_

She was dimly aware of the Amazons staring at her as she flew in, low enough now that she was practically skimming the surface. One warrior gazed at her in awe, placing a hand on her heart and taking a knee. One by one, the rest of the Amazons followed, until the only one left standing was a blonde woman wearing a golden circlet and hardened eyes.

None of them seemed to notice the man crumpled against the cliff behind them, pulling out a gun and aiming for the blonde woman’s head.

Kara did.

_You can’t save everything, Kara._

She did what she always did, whether it was stopping a plane crash in National City or sneaking a hermit crab into the pocket of her sweatshirt.

She acted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i know i said i was gonna update weekly But! i was so overwhelmed by all the messages and positive support i received for this so i went ahead and wrote this early so hope you enjoyed :D !


	3. Chapter 3

III. DIANA

“But _mother_ —”

“No, Diana.”

“Just one more day. One more day! She needs time to recover, and you _know_ what the questioning is like.”

Hippolyta’s face was unmoved. Diana’s fists curled in exasperation. “You’re being unfair,” she shot, and quickly averted her gaze, aware at once of how petulant she sounded.

“ _Unfair_?” Hippolyta stopped short, turning deliberately to face her daughter. Diana itched to backtrack, but she knew it would be futile, would make her look even more like a child than how her mother already saw her. “ _Unfair_ was this woman bringing invaders to our shores. _Unfair_ was Amazons spilling their blood for her actions. _Unfair_ was watching _my_ people bow before this stranger like common slaves.” Hippolyta’s voice didn’t waver, her self-assurance almost a tangible thing. “No, Diana, I am not being unfair. I’m being _realistic_ , and doing what needs to be done to keep our people safe.” She reached out a hand, grasping Diana’s shoulder. “One day, this role will be yours, and you will understand,” she said softly.

Diana shook her head, shrugging out from her mother’s grip. “She saved your _life_ , Mother. If this is how Amazons repay such kindness, then perhaps you should take some more clay and fashion yourself a new child.”

Hippolyta’s lips set in a hard line. “I do not expect that you agree. What I _do_ expect is that you respect your Queen and trust her to make decisions that will protect our people.” Diana looked away. “No matter how much those decisions might displease you,” Hippolyta added, nudging Diana’s chin back to face her. “Are we in accord?”

Diana gave a short nod.

Satisfied, Hippolyta patted her shoulder. “That’s my smart daughter,” she smiled, but her eyes were far away, already focused on the next task.

Diana stepped back and let her go. Hippolyta strode onward, the heavy cloak flowing off her shoulders unable to obscure that characteristic knife-edge posture. She walked like a queen, each step resounding with confidence and surety, the same surety that rang from her every spoken word, the surety that comes from knowing that all your people would follow your orders to the ends of the earth.

Well, maybe not _all_ of them.

Hippolyta didn’t look back, didn’t see Diana’s practiced demure expression slip away, didn’t see the way her eyes hardened with defiance or how her feet planted squarely on the ground as she tried to think. She’d figured out years ago that if she wanted to get _anything_ done, it was much easier to pretend to agree with her mother, and then go figure it out on her own. That strategy was how she’d first gotten trained to fight, how she’d courted her first girlfriend, how she’d explored every inch of every cave on the island. But this time, it was different. There was no simple, harmless way that she could sneak behind Hippolyta’s cloaked back, at least without getting arrested for treason.

Diana slowly uncurled her fists. Although she wanted to trust this Kara Danvers, although she wanted to give her laurels for what she did on the beach, although she wanted to kiss her cheek again, or perhaps, elsewhere— none of it mattered. As much as it pained her to admit, her mother was right: the safety of their people came above all else. She owed the island her first loyalty, and, with a weight in her chest, she owed the fallen on the beach their justice.

\----------------

Snakes of golden light encircled Kara’s torso, pinning her arms to her sides. Surrounding her, a dozen Amazons formed a protective semicircle, weapons held aloft and pointed at her heart.

Diana surveyed the scene with distaste. She knew the Amazons were just doing their duty, but did their duty have to be so… overkill?

By the looks of the reluctant expressions that the guards were sporting, Diana wasn’t the only one who thought that way. But what choice did they have?

“Your given name,” Hippolyta began, voice as lofty as a mountain. “What is it?”

“Kara Danv— _ahh!”_ Kara broke off, yelping with pain as the lasso sizzled against her.

Diana’s first instinct— to run to her, to help her— was abruptly chased away by another. _Kara lied?_ She was suddenly glad her mother had insisted on the questioning. It seemed, she thought, with hurt creeping into her throat, that she hadn’t known the stranger quite as well as she’d believed.

Hippolyta watched impassively. “The Lasso of Truth will not tolerate lies.”

“I—wasn’t— _lying_ ,” Kara managed through gritted teeth. “My _birth_ name is Kara Zor-El. But when I came to Earth, I took the name Danvers.” When the lasso didn’t react, she looked up at the queen, a dark grin on her face. “Maybe your golden bondage gear needs a software upgrade.”

Hippolyta’s lips pressed into a hard line. Diana wasn’t sure what it meant, but it definitely didn’t sound respectful.

Murmurs stirred through the crowd. _Came to Earth?_ One of the guard’s eyes darted from Kara to the Queen and back again, before she finally burst out: “So it’s true then? You are a god?”

Hippolyta started to interject, but not before Kara could cast a blank look around the chamber. “A _god?_ ” she repeated. Several people drew back and gasped. “Of _course_ not,” she laughed incredulously, her question-filled eyes finally finding Diana’s, who offered no answers. Disappointment etched across her features, Kara looked back to Hippolyta. “I’m no god, I’m just an alien. Like all of you.”

Diana stiffened, a noticeable bristle running through the crowd. She trained her eyes on Kara, willing her to _stop talking_ before she dug herself into an even deeper hole. 

Hippolyta spoke, quiet fury tightening her voice. “How _dare you_ trespass upon _our home_ and have the nerve to call _us_ foreigners.”

“What? No, no, the _other_ type of alien, you know, from Outer Space— okay,” she stopped, grimacing. “I think maybe I should start over.”

Hippolyta’s grip tightened on her sword. “That would be wise.”

Kara gulped, but when she spoke, her voice was steady.

“I’m not a god. I’m an alien, and not just a foreigner. I mean I was born on another planet, Krypton.”  

Diana widened her eyes. Born on _another planet?_ It didn’t sound possible, but then again, neither did a woman who could fly and shoot light out of her eyes.

“When I was a child, Krypton was destroyed, and I was sent to Earth, where your yellow sun blessed me with amazing powers. When I got older, I began to use those powers to help people and save lives, and, more recently, try to end the War.”

“The war?” Diana repeated, curiosity over-ruling her intentions to remain uninvolved. “What war?”

Kara studied her, disbelief written across her features. “You mean you really don’t know?”

Diana looked back at her mother, searching. Hippolyta’s face was unreadable. Sudden frustration spilling into her, she stepped forward until her face was inches from Kara's and shook her head.

Kara met her gaze, eyes leaden. “ _The_ war—the war to end the world.”


	4. Chapter 4

IV. KARA

She dipped in a toe before lowering herself in, letting the steam unfurl the aches in her muscles. The Amazons who’d escorted her to her room told her it was a ‘bath,’ but to Kara, it seemed much more like a hot tub than any claw-foot she’d ever seen—which was totally fine by her. After the day she’d had— _Rao_ , after the _months_ she’d had, ever since that blasted war—she figured she deserved a little luxury.

 _The war._ She dunked her head underwater, letting her hair drift about like tendrils of an anemone as a day’s worth of sweat and grime washed away. She supposed it would’ve been too much to ask for the water to do the same to her malignant thoughts, but she surfaced disappointed nonetheless.

Her fingers skimmed lightly over the surface of the water. Although the hearing had cleared her name and convinced a couple hundred warrior women not to execute her, she somehow felt even worse than before. Standing there—describing the war to a hundred people who’d never heard of it, witnessing the fresh horror on their faces—it was almost like living it all over again.

When Rhea and her estranged husband, Lar Gand, had first sent competing forces to invade the Earth, Kara and the DEO had been cautiously optimistic. Analysis of each side’s ranks had found them evenly matched, and for a while it seemed like the conflict would end in mutually assured destruction for the Daxamites— at least until the Rheans began recruiting humans to fight in their war. 

Promised riches, glory, and a spot in the new world Rhea was going to build from the ashes of the old, they enlisted in droves. Then Lar Gand began offering the same thing, and the world dissolved into fire and chaos. Kara would’ve liked to say it astounded her, how quickly neighbor turned against neighbor, blood against blood—but by now, she’d seen enough of humanity to be disappointed, but not entirely surprised.

For the first month they’d battled, she’d refused to fight any of the humans, convinced that if she could just _get through_ to them, they’d all stop fighting. She’d sent out broadcast after broadcast, held speech after speech, marched in peace rally after peace rally, urging everyone to realize that they were playing right into the Daxamites’ hands. Even as Alex had pulled her aside, gently explaining that while everyone admired her conviction, the Resistance needed Supergirl to fight, she’d refused to listen.

Then a contingent of Rheans sent bombers into an elementary school in Gandian territory.

_Kara raced to the scene, knocking flat the lockdown doors and immediately scanning the building with her x-ray vision. When Guardian—James, she reminded herself—arrived a moment later, she’d shouted for him to get all the children out, and then, heart climbing in her throat, she charged upwards, straight toward the armed figures she’d spotted in her scan._

_Four black-clad men stood silhouetted against the sunlight. One, probably the guard, clutched a semi-automatic, but he seemed more interested in staring blankly that the sprinklers on the ceiling than keeping a good watch. The other three carried mottled metal boxes, each roughly the size of a housecat. One man with a splotchy pink sunburn across his bald head watched his companions out of the corner of his eye as they tinkered with their devices. A beat later, he surreptitiously copied their movements, as if he’d missed the How-To-Activate-Bombs training day at the office._

_Their ineptitude told Kara they were humans, not Daxamites. In other circumstances, she might’ve laughed at their incompetence; at least, if it weren’t so depressing to see them turn against their own and if the lives of hundreds of children didn’t hang in the balance._

_An angry cry told her she’d finally been spotted, and she heard the metallic_ ka-chink _of ammunition hurriedly being loaded. The guard never even had a chance to fire. Kara’s foot connected with his chest and he went flying, crumpling against the window in a heap._

_The bombers turned to her next, devices raised, and Kara didn’t think, just reacted. She grabbed the bald man from under his arms, dubiously constructed explosive still clutched in his hand, and hurled him at the window. His screams mingled with the shatter of glass as he soared out and over the lawn. A heartbeat later, his two companions joined him, and she averted her eyes as a quaking boom told her one of the bombs had gone off, unintentionally or not._

_She’d relaxed only a fraction when another sound alerted her defenses. Laughter. And—was that a sob? A sick coil wormed into her stomach as a woman in an over-sized coat emerged from behind a corner, her hand gripping the shoulder of a tear-streaked little girl._

_“Very nice, Supergirl,” the woman said, voice as blasé as if she were congratulating Kara on a first-place pie at the county fair._

_Kara braced and moved to attack, but the woman cut her off with a wave. “Oh, no, you don’t want to try it. At least, not while I’m wearing_ this _,” she laughed, opening up her coat to reveal explosives strapped up and down the sides._

_Kara sucked in a breath, evaluating her options. She could try ripping off the coat and flinging it out the window, but the woman held a detonator in her other hand, and there was no guarantee Kara could get the girl to safety before it went off._

_The girl whimpered softly, and Kara’s mind raced. “Please,” she implored, allowing her voice to crack as she looked into the woman’s eyes. “Don’t do this. Think of the children—”_

_“I_ am _thinking of the children,” the woman retorted, a feverish glint alight in her eyes. “_ My _children. Who’ll never have to worry about money again once Queen Rhea rewards them for my sacrifice.”_

 _Kara swallowed. This was the insidiousness of the Daxamites, promising the_ _downtrodden their salvation, albeit with the hefty price of blood. “Look, I know things are tough, but don’t let them convince you this is your only option. We can help you—”_

 _"This_ is _my only option!” The woman screamed. “They’ve doomed the world to fire and blood, so I’m making sure to get my fair share,” she breathed, eyes wild, her finger inching toward the detonator._

_Kara acted._

_She hit the fire sprinkler above the woman’s head with a blast of heat vision and it sputtered to life, gallons of water splashing off the woman’s coat. “What the—”_

_Kara filled her lungs and blew, her freeze breath turning the woman’s upper body to an ice cube. She pulled the girl out of the way, and then heaved another breath, each cascading layer of water adding to the icy prison as the woman’s raging screams grew fainter and fainter._

She’d kept the prison up until the DEO bomb squad arrived, who’d safely neutralized the explosives and sent the woman into custody. When she’d met up with James, he’d informed her that there’d been no casualties. As it turned out, even the would-be bombers had survived their falls. By all accounts, it was a rousing success, a cause for celebration, a rarity in a war full of heartbreak.

But not for Kara.

That night, nightmares plagued her sleep. The woman’s wild eyes shone from the dark each time she closed her eyes. _How many children have died because you wouldn’t fight us?_ They taunted. _How much blood stains your hands?_

From that day on, Kara had thrown herself into the fight with a new vengeance. She gave up on saving the Earth with diplomacy, heartfelt words giving way to hard punches as the fights grew increasingly tougher and more violent. If the people didn’t want to be saved, that was their choice, and she saw now that nothing could change their minds. At least she could use her power to save those who did.

If her friends noticed a change in her, they didn’t let on; perhaps they’d all seen too clearly within themselves how war wears on the soul.

No, that wasn't entirely true— _Alex_ was worried about her (as if that was new). Still, she’d sensed something broken in Kara, spots of burned-out emptiness where there used to be light. But Kara wouldn't— _couldn't_ —talk about it, not without breaking down, which she couldn't afford to do in a time like this. So, she pushed it all aside, buried it deep, spun it into the heart of a web where it couldn’t be touched without unraveling her whole being. She took more and more risks, signed up for more and more dangerous assignments, until one of them ended with a horrible discovery and a krypto-cannon blast out of the sky.

Footsteps on stone. The sound shook her out of her reverie and she tensed, sinking deeper into the azure water as if it offered any protection. When she looked up, Diana stood in the doorway, uncertainty pulling at the corners of her mouth.

“Kara Danvers?” Diana asked.

Kara nodded, crossing her arms over her chest and wondering briefly how much the Amazon can see from her vantage point.

“Tell me. This war—is it really as bad as you said?”

Kara looked away. _They’ve doomed the world to fire and blood._ “Even worse,” she said quietly.

Diana’s shoulders slumped, but she nodded like that was the answer she’d been expecting. When she spoke, her words rang with the same strength as tempered steel. “Then I’m coming with you.”


	5. Chapter 5

V. DIANA

Leaping across a fifty-meter chasm wasn’t the hard part. Scaling a vertical wall with nothing but her fingertips? Barely even enough to make her break a sweat. No, creeping through the tower and stealing— _borrowing_ , she amended, because she’d be back one day, she _would_ —her people’s most treasured artifact was far from the most difficult part of her night.

That part was coming up.

The dark water shone like a jewel in the starlight, gentle waves cutting facets into its surface. Unease twinged in her gut as she eyed the craft. Diana knew how to sail, of course, but she’d only ever practiced within the protected confines of Themyscira. What if there was a storm? A whirlpool? The books she’d read over the years had supplied her with enough details that she could call to mind a dozen disastrous outcomes, but she didn’t have enough experience to foresee any solutions.

Diana had never even heard thunder.

Never before had the island’s perpetually sunny climate seemed like a curse. Then again, never before had she stood on the precipice of the World of Man, poised to leave behind everything she knew.

 _There will be no storms_ , she decided, _save for the one I unleash upon Ares. Then all the world will hear the thunder—even on Themyscira—and it will be my footsteps._

“Wow,” said Kara. For a moment, Diana thought she was responding to her mental declaration—had she spoken out loud? Gods, she hadn’t _meant_ to—but then she noticed how Kara’s eyes traveled her up and down. Oh. _Oh_.

“Nice outfit,” Kara said, rather unnecessarily.

Diana shifted her arms out from her heavy cloak. “Thank you,” she said, oddly formal, and silently cursed herself for the sudden bout of awkwardness. Kara was just stating an observation, that was all. And it _was_ a nice outfit—almost nice enough to make her forget what she was about to do.

“Now, I hope you know how to sa—" Diana stopped. Her ears pricked. _Here comes the hard part_ , she thought, and turned to meet the horses.

Antiope rode up to her first, dismounting in a smooth instant. Diana tensed as her aunt strode forward. She didn’t want to fight, but if that was what it took, so be it.

Antiope’s stride never broke as she advanced on her niece. Diana had a swift, worrying flashback to a jaguar she’d once seen stalking down a quail—and then her aunt was sweeping her up into her arms and smoothing back her hair.

Diana breathed. A part of her wanted to stay here—cradled against the hard planes of her aunt’s face, the same face that had set like stone during so many training sessions and had crumbled into conspiratorial laughter just as often—forever. But the world cared very little about what she wanted, or so she was beginning to find out.

As Antiope pulled away, something cool and metallic dropped into Diana’s hands. She widened her eyes. “Antiope, you can’t—"

“Little Diana,” Antiope gave a small laugh, swinging back up into her saddle, “do not presume to tell me what I can and cannot do.”

“But—"

“The tiara is meant for the fiercest among us, Diana. And that is no longer me.”

Antiope watched her expectantly, as if waiting for her to pick up on something. Diana frowned. Something about that exchange _did_ seem familiar, but where did she— _oh_. A memory rushed in, hard and swift. The same words she’d heard so many years ago, staring up at the sword that now hung from her belt. _Godkiller_. This was Antiope’s blessing, her unspoken assurance that Diana’s fate was intertwined with that title.

Too bad that wasn’t the only blessing she needed to get.

As Antiope’s horse pulled away, Hippolyta’s tall stallion rose from the shadows, but Diana still couldn’t meet her mother’s eyes. It was weak, it was foolish—after all, she had chosen for this confrontation to occur, deliberately snapping branches underfoot until she knew there would be no chance her plans would go unnoticed—but for all her hours to stew on it, she’d never thought up a way to look her mother in the eye and tell her she was leaving home forever.

A quiet rustle sounded from behind her. Diana had almost forgotten Kara was there—no doubt this was all terribly awkward for the foreigner, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it now.

Hippolyta dismounted, stony features betraying no more emotion than your average glacier. But a strange thing happened as Diana ran forward and buried her head in her mother’s shoulder, decorum be damned, because she was _leaving Themyscira,_ leaving her _family_ , and as much as she tried to deny it, she knew as well as anyone that there was no coming back—the glacier began to calve.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I know it's been 8 billion years and this is really short, but so much has been going on lately and it’s been tough for me to write.  
> I really do want to finish this and I'm getting there, slowly but surely. If you're reading this, thanks for sticking with me!


	6. Chapter 6

VI. KARA

Standing at the helm of the boat, Kara was intensely glad that she couldn’t get seasick. As soon as they’d departed from Themyscira, the sky had purpled and frothed until it cracked open into a vicious storm, tossing the boat about as easily as if it were a toy in a child’s bath. She and Diana had managed to keep everything together until the seas calmed, but Kara couldn’t help reading it as an omen. As if the very island itself were punishing them.

Well—punishing _Kara_ , more likely. Diana hadn’t done anything wrong. _She_ wasn’t the one who’d watered the shores with innocent blood. Who’d carried death in her wake like a dragging limb.

That was all Kara.

“Diana,” Kara said, turning back to face the Amazon. “I never got a chance to apologize.”

“For what?” Diana’s dark gaze was curious.

“Your people, on the beach… this was my fight, not theirs. Their deaths are on me.”

“ _No_.” Diana rose, closing the gap between them in a few short strides.“You mustn’t do this. I’ve heard tales of leaders going mad under misplaced guilt—you must know that this was not your fault. The Amazons train our whole lives for fights like this. We— _they_ —knew the risks.”

“Still. If I hadn’t led them here—”

“ _Kara_ ,” Diana grabbed her hands, gaze insistent. “I won’t hear anymore. It wasn’t your fault, and that’s the end of it.”

It was hard to think of sensible arguments when her opponent’s hair was edged in moonlight, eyes glinting under the light of the stars. “Okay,” Kara whispered, and Diana relaxed, dropping her hands.

“Come sleep with me,” said Diana.

Kara choked. “Sorry?”

Diana cocked her head. “Apologies. Does your kind not sleep?”

“No, no, Kryptonians sleep,” Kara said, still recovering.

Diana furrowed her brow. “I just thought you might like to rest, so I set up blankets at the stern. But if you would prefer to be separate—“

“No!” Kara flushed. “I mean, no, that’s very kind of you, and you’re right. I’m exhausted. Um, it’s just,” she faltered, the heat in her cheeks deepening to a burn. “Out in this world? When you ask someone to ‘sleep with them’, it usually means something else.”

“But what—” A look of understanding washed over Diana. “Ah. You are referring to the pleasures of the flesh.”

“...Yeah. Those.”

Diana nodded. “I can see now the cause for your alarm. Do not fear—I wasn’t making an advance on you.” An easy grin slid on her face. “Now, we have many miles left to go—let us rest.” She quirked an eyebrow at Kara. “No accidental euphemisms in that one?”

“You’re good,” Kara laughed, trying to disguise her racing pulse as they picked their way back to the stern, where true to her word, Diana had fashioned them a cozy nest of blankets.

As they settled in for the night, Kara replayed the Amazon’s words. _They knew the risks._ It was true, but that didn’t make it any easier to swallow. It sounded too much like what J’onn had said at the funeral for a rookie group of agents, lost to a Rhean guerilla group in their first month after graduation. Yes, they knew the risks. But they shouldn’t have had to take those risks in the first place. And Kara wasn’t going to stop until none of them—no one—ever had to weigh those odds again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again! Thanks so much for bearing with me and sticking with this story!


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